In 1965, Nottinghamshire Constabulary had an establishment of 1,026 officers and an actual strength of 798.[6]

Proposals made by the Home Secretary in March 2006 would have seen the force merge with the other four East Midlands forces to form a strategic police force for the entire region.[7] However, in July 2006 the proposed merger was cancelled.[8][9]

In 2009, a performance assessment carried out by the government ranked the force's operational area as the third worst in the country.[11]

In March 2010, the HMIC rated the force as 'poor' in three reviewed areas of, 'Local Policing', 'Confidence' and 'Protecting from Harm'. Nottinghamshire Police were the only force in England & Wales to receive such a rating. Although the HMIC did not attempt to place the 43 police forces in England & Wales in a directly comparable league table (due to difficulties in comparing a large city force with a small rural force), Nottinghamshire Police did give the HMIC cause for concern. The media portrayed the analysis as showing the force as the 'worst in England & Wales'.[12]

In 2016 the force moved from a geographic divisional management structure to a thematic model.[16] Police functions being managed across the county based on their function rather than the area they cover. Each of the two areas are headed by a Chief Superintendent. The two thematic areas are;

There are 3 custody suites across the force: Bridewell (71 cells), Mansfield (32 cells) and Newark-on-Trent(10 cells)[17][18] but there are currently plans under review to close the Newark-on-Trent suite as a cost-saving measure[19].

Response policing is provided across the county from 12 Response Hubs, reduced from 23 under the old geographic model. There are plans to reduce this number to 9 in the future.[20]

Nottinghamshire is also divided into a number of Neighbourhood Policing Areas, each of which is headed by a Neighbourhood Policing Inspector. These provide local neighbourhood policing and are staffed by teams of Police Officers, PCSO's and Special Constables.

The Intelligence and Investigations Command covers areas including Intelligence, Public Protection, Integrated Offender Management and CID.

Operational Support Policing for the force between 2015 and May 2018 was provided by the East Midlands Operational Support Service (EMOpSS), a multi force alliance which provides Roads Policing, Police Dogs, Armed Response and other specialist services over Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire.[21] In May 2018 Operational Support Policing withdrew from the regional collaboration and a new department was established. The newly formed Operational Support department is led by Superintendent Steve Cartwright. Supt Cartwright is a Strategic Firearms Commander and Public Order Silver Commander. He is the force lead for Football Policing and Public Order.